Spartans in the Wasteland
by vadersky94
Summary: The three Spartan-IIs trapped in the Shield World have been rescued. But John-117 is still out there and floating toward a different, irradiated Earth. A void was created at the destruction of the ARK, and Fred, Kelly, and Linda are going in.
1. Chapter 1: New Gear, New Mission

**Spartans in the Wasteland**

**Chapter One: New Gear, New Mission**

**Year: 2553**

**Date: September 23**

**Location: Cairo Station above Earth orbit**

The armory master of Cairo Station cycled through the gear in front of him with a disgruntled look. "You know we have a lot of things to pay for ever since that war ended, but judging by the way you fight I don't think money matters to you now does it?"

Fred, Linda, and Kelly all looked at each other somewhat puzzled. Then Fred spoke, "With all due respect sir that blast set off at Onyx heavily damaged our armor. We did what we had to do, sor-"

"Save me your apologies Spartan! Lucky for you Dr. Halsey sent you something real nice to make up for your damaged equipment. Hold on just one moment." Master Hawkins then turned around and retrieved a box and struggled to bring it back to the three Spartan-IIs standing in his armory. "Spartan-087!" yelled Master Hawkins.

"Here!" said Kelly raising her arm. Master Hawkins handed her the box. Written on it was "Mjolnir Mark VI". Under that read "Spartan-087". _Mark VI?_ she thought, _must be something good._

Master Hawkins went back to retrieve the next box and yelled, "Spartan-104!"

"Right here sir!" yelled Fred. He took the box from Hawkins. The same thing was written on the box with the exception of "Spartan-104". Linda went to help Master Hawkins with the next box and brought it back to the rest of her team.

"This same armor was given to your pal Master Chief by a friend of mine very shortly before the Battle of Earth. There are significant improvements made to this variant. Including faster and better shields, better magnification, enhanced strength, and some more goodies you'll find on your own." The Spartans bowed their heads at the mention of their friend and teammate John-117. He was the luckiest and one of the bravest Spartans they knew. But the mention of the upgrades in their new armor got them excited and wishing they could test it out. "Well what are you waiting for?" belted Master Hawkins, "put it on!"

Kelly opened her box and in it was the Mjolnir Mark VI with and EVA helmet. But what struck her was that the armor was colored white, a change from the usual green. She decided though that it sort of had a nice personal touch to it, and proceeded to put it on. Linda opened her box and discovered her Mark VI armor was colored a dark, navy blue, with a CQB helmet. Fred opened his to find the Mark VI colored red with the usual Mark VI helmet. The Spartans seemed to favor this new color distinction and put their armor on. There was always that enhancement feeling when the Spartans put on their Mark V armor. This feeling was even better. Fred felt eager to get into a fight and try this armor out. And judging by the motions of his other Spartans they seemed to feel the same. Just then the elevator door to the armory opened up and revealed Sergeant Redman. Sergeant Redman was a cousin of the famous Sergeant Johnson. The Spartans had only met him after escaping the Shield world. And for the amount of time they knew him they could have guessed that Johnson and Redman must have been best friends. They even looked and sounded similar.

"Well, seeing as their armor is on I guess they must be done. Am I right Master Hawkins?"

"Sergeant I haven't tested their shields or weapon systems yet."

"I'm sure their armor works just fine Hawkins. Now snap at it Spartans, Lord Hood wants to see you pronto!"

"Yes Sergeant!" yelled the Spartans.

"Good, Master Hawkins Spartan-IIIs will be up shortly."

"Yes Sergeant." said Hawkins. With that the door shut and the elevator started moving.

"Master Hawkins has been eager to hear about how you guys got off Onyx. I'm sure the Spartan-IIIs can provide a story."

"Yes Sergeant." said Fred.

"Hmm." The elevator stopped and the four got off and proceeded to the little tram in front of them. Looking out to Earth, Redman said, "Earth, Master Chief put up one hell of a fight defending this place. One hell of a fight." The sergeant sighed, "It's a shame we had to lose him, including my cousin."

"A lot of good people died fighting" spoke Fred. "At least it wasn't for nothing." Fred was probably just as hurt as Sgt. Redman. John was one of his best. And he knew Sgt. Johnson as one badass marine. Though Fred refused to believe John was gone. He knew the classified data on the circumstances of John's disappearance, as well as Kelly and Linda. But he didn't think the back section of _Forward Unto Dawn _could just be left behind. Fred wished he could go to the Ark's location and look. Alone if he had to. The tram stopped and the Spartans along with Sgt. Redman stepped out to proceed to Lord Hood.

They walked into the stations large control room that looked out into space. It was a magnificent site that few these days got to see. "Lord Hood reporting as ordered sir!" yelled Sgt. Redman saluting along with the Spartans.

"At ease" said Hood. "Welcome Spartans, glad to have you back."

"Great to be back sir" said Kelly.

"Yes. I trust you all know the specifics surrounding the Battle of Installation 00?"

"Yes sir!" replied the Spartans.

"Good, then I will tell you that we sent a search party out to the debris field to see what's left." Lord Hood sighed. "Sadly, we didn't find the aft of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. What we did find, however, was a small void, somewhat like a black hole, just outside the remains of the Ark and Installation 04B. We would like to send someone into this void, see if our lost friend somehow slipped into it. Would any of you be interested?" Immediately all the Spartans stepped forward, followed by Sgt. Redman. Looking pleased, Lord Hood said, "Excellent, I thought you would. You will be boarding the Marathon-class cruiser _Alpha And Omega_ today at 2100 hours. She will enter Slipspace at precisely 0600 hours tomorrow. Any question?"

Fred thought then said, "I'm sorry sir but is it necessary to take an entire cruiser for this mission?"

"You will board a pelican that will go into the void once _Alpha And Omega _exits slipspace. Any more questions?" No one said anything. "Excellent. You may gather supplies and board the ship. Have a safe trip there and good luck on your mission."

With that the Spartan-IIs and Sgt. Redman turned and walked away to make their preparations. The Spartans were hoping that somehow their comrade may still be alive.

*NOTE: I have checked and it is unknown whether or not Fred, Kelly or Linda got Mark VI armor, so in this story the received it now. I also did color variations to distinguish the Spartans. Please let me know what you guys think, enjoy!*


	2. Chapter 2: When You Need Me

**Spartans in the Wasteland**

**Chapter 2: When You Need Me**

**Year: 2553**

**Date: September 25**

**Location: Aft of **_**Forward Unto Dawn**_**, floating towards unkown planet.**

"Chief wake up! I need you wake up!" yelled the A.I. Cortana. She had just begun the defreezing process in the Spartan's cryo tube. In a moment he would hear Cortana's voice ringing through his ears.

"What is it Cortana?" John said, a bit annoyed.

"Drifting towards a planet that we will fall into." said Cortana.

"What planet?"

"Don't know haven't scanned yet"

"What time is it? What YEAR is it?" asked the Master chief.

"The year is September 25, 2553. You've been in cryo for sometime Chief." replied Cortana.

"You can say that again." John's body ached, and he had somewhat of a headache, but he would be fine. He checked his Mjolnir Mark VI's systems. Everything checked so he let his shields recharge. John then floated out of the cryo tube to where his A.I. companion was. She was the same as when he left her. Short hair, light and dark blue human figure with data streaming through her body. Chief had been through almost the entire war with her. From his first mission at Reach to the destruction of the Ark. He could have sworn he would be dead if it were not for his A.I. companion. If there was anyone he could trust, it was Cortana. "Anything?"

"Yeah I think I've got something here. It's hard to do this with the little power left in the _Dawn_ but…."

"But what?"

"Oh no, oh that can't be. Oh no no no no no."

"Hang on a minute, what's going on?" John said calmly.

"The planet, it's, it's Earth…." said Cortana in a low, shallow voice. The Chief looked outside the ship. At first glance he didn't recognize it, but looking deeper through the thick green clouds he could make out the outlines of the west coast of North America and the Eastern tip of Russia.

"What happened?" John asked amazed. "Where are all the stations and UNSC ships? Did they get destroyed? And if so how?"

"There's no trace of them Chief. No debris or anything, as if nothing ever went into space." John couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But it gets worse." Cortana said, "There are high levels of radiation in the atmosphere. And I'm getting no kind of signal or pick up of some sort of electronic. It's as if hundreds of nuclear bombs went off. In fact, I think that's exactly what happened. "

"The Covenant?"

"No, nuclear weapons are not their style, and there's no history of nuclear warfare of this scale in Earth's history. Chief, I think we may be at some different kind of Earth."

_Different kind of Earth? Was that even possible?_ "Where is this bucket going to land?"

"Estimated trajectory is somewhere in Greenland. But there are some HEVs left. If we launch at just the right time, we could land somewhere in Washington D.C. Or what's left of it."

"Why there?"

"It's probably our best bet of finding humans and see what the hell did happen here." replied Cortana smartly. Washington had been one of the headquarters of the UNSC, specifically the Pentagon. There had to be someone down there who could tell them what's what. "Put me in, and then we'll gear up." John removed the chip and inserted it inside his helmet. The familiar icy feeling rippled through him. "Ahh, that's better. Nice and snug." John looked around for weapons. He found an MA5C along with several clips. He took the clips and then put the MA5C on his back. He also found two M7 sub-machine guns and took those with extra clips. Along with that he took four fragmentation grenades. Satisfied, John makes his way to the HEVs, picked one, put his MA5C to the side, and climbed in.

"You ready for a ride?" asked John.

"You betcha!"

"Just launch when you're ready." Within minutes Cortana started a countdown and then launched the HEV. The pod rushed down towards Earth. John could the silhouette of North America get closer. Then the HEV entered the atmosphere and fire rippled across the bottom. Heat blistered in the HEV. But John shrugged it off, Spartan-IIs were trained to ignore pain. Once the pod cleared the upper atmosphere it deployed its parachute and the HEV's descent was slowed down as the ground got ever closer. As it kept going John looked at the land before him. It was barren and deserted. A sea of brown coated with black trees and destruction. John sighed, _it couldn't be possible_ he thought. In moments Cortana yelled,

"Touch down in three, two, one…." The HEV crashed to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3: Into The Void

**Spartans in the Wasteland**

**Chapter 3: Into the void**

**Year: 2553**

**Date: September 25**

**Location: **_**Alpha and Omega**_**, 20 minutes to destination.**

Commander Hockley stood at the bridge of the _Alpha and Omega_ en route to the remains of the Ark and the replacement to Installation 04. He yawned and sipped his coffee. The commander was getting to be very tired. He though that when the war ended, he could finally get some rest and revisit his family. This was not the case. Instead, the UNSC decided to send people out on numerous rescue operations and scout glassed worlds as well as the ones that were spared. All to end skirmishes and to see what was left. Whenever the UNSC would call him up for a new mission he would except it but groan with boredom. Mission after mission was the same; at least the war had some excitement. But this assignment was different. It was to rescue Spartan-117, Master Chief. Almost everyone now knew his daring feats during the Human-Covenant war. Alpha Halo, First-Strike, Delta Halo, Earth, the Ark, it was almost legend. The UNSC had a huge debt to him. If it were not for the Master Chief, humans would most certainly be gone and the war lost. His number and rank emblem were inscribed on the memorial in Africa. He has been presumed dead, although listed as MIA. But after the briefing, Hockley views changed. He hoped this void he was going after did indeed lead to the lost Spartan, making him truly MIA. At least for now.

"Sir, ETA to destination in twenty minutes!" Hockley's navigation officer said.

"Thank you lieutenant. Alert Rescue Force Alpha, tell them to gear up and get in their Pelican ASAP." Rescue Force Alpha was given to the Three Spartan-IIs and Sergeant Redman taking comfort in his ship. He was honored to have these Spartans on board. Their acts were also nothing short of courageous.

"Yes Sir."

Fred sat in his bunk holding his new Mark VI helmet. He thought Dr. Halsey did a wonderful job with his new armor. It was like no other. Faster recharging shields, no health packs, and additional enhancements. Excellent, and only made for Spartans. His two teammates were also present. Kelly was lying above him staring into space, while Linda sat across from him looking anxious. The room was quiet. They had nothing to say. Fred was sure his friend and fellow teammate was inside that void, but there was still doubt. What if the ship got destroyed going inside, what if the _Dawn _never went in at all and was obliterated with the Ark and the ring? Fred pushed these thoughts aside. John was alive, he knew it. Fred put his helmet down and then grabbed his pistol. While examining it Fred hoped he would not need it. Fred made sure the weapon was on safety, and then holstered it. All of a sudden a voice came through the intercom. "Spartans, suit up, grab your gear and report to your Pelican. ETA to destination in 19 minutes." Fred picked up his helmet, slid it on and let it click shut. He then grabbed his MA5C and made sure the rifle was also on safety. Fred also made sure he had plenty of magazines for his weapons. Satisfied, he checked to see if his Spartans were doing the same. They were already done and waited for him to proceed out. Linda was carrying a SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and Kelly was employed a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle. Fred made a grin inside his helmet then turned around and walked out of the room. In the hallway was Sgt. Redman. All geared up and ready to roll.

"Bout time you guys showed up. Let's get going, there's a Pelican in the hangar and she ain't waiting for slowpokes." Fred smiled, one thing people liked was humor and this guy definitely had it. The team hurried to the hangar where their Pelican was waiting. The words UNSC MARINES were written on the sides of the drop ship. Fred saw a Major hurry towards them.

"Hello soldiers, I am Major Rick. Call sign Flash. I will be escorting you into the void once we arrive. My copilot, Lieutenant Freeman, will also be assisting us."

"Thank you Major, should we board now?" asked Fred.

"Yes, please do."

"Yes sir." The four climbed inside. Took their seats and put their weapons aside.

"I sure hope we don't have to use these." Kelly said letting go of her Battle Rifle.

"Me too." Linda replied. Sergeant Redman took out a device, tapped a few buttons, and out came music. Fred knew this ancient type as "metal". He also found it a bit interesting. Then Fred sat back, and awaited more orders.

Back on the bridge Commander Hockley stirred his coffee as he stared into the slip space portal they were still inside. Soon the _Alpha and Omega_ would exit and Rescue Force Alpha could begin their mission. "Sir, exiting slip space in thirty seconds." his navigation officer said.

"Thank you Lieutenant, make sure the rescue team is ready."

"Yes sir." Hockley was getting anxious. He wanted to be there, send the team in, have them come back, and go home. Maybe he could use a nice nap while Rescue Force Alpha was gone. He needed the sleep, someone else could take over. In fact, that's what he was going to do. Get some rest while he had the time. "Sir exiting slip space in five."

"Are they ready?" asked the Commander.

"Yes sir."

"Then let's go." The ship exited slip space and outside it was space. Lots of it. The stars twinkled and showed the floating debris that was the remains of the Ark and Installation 04b just off to the right. But among that was also the void they were after, right off the left of the _Alpha and Omega_. It was a swirling black that went into nothingness. Just an empty black at the center. But the Commander noticed something else. Coming out of the center was lightning. White, blue, and light purple lightning. And it was close. _Too close_ the Commander thought. Had they exited slip space not far enough out? He hoped not, that lightning didn't look too friendly.

"Sir, should I let the rescue team go?" asked another one of his bridge officers.

"No, Lieutenant, change course. Get us farther away from that void; I think we came out a bit too close."

"Aye sir." Just then, a spark of lightning flashed and hit the cruiser. It blinded the Commander, screens went hay wire, and the ship shuddered like crazy. His coffee fell and crashed on the deck. Another lightning bolt hit and the Commander fell to the floor. This bolt latched on longer and he saw the debris field get smaller. _Oh no, _he thought, _the void is pulling us IN._

"Report!" Hockley yelled.

"Hull damages on several plates, no breaches as of yet. But the void we're getting closer and I can't seem to pull out."

"Sound the alarm. And engage thruster to point our nose at the void."

"SIR?!"

The commander yelled and pointing forward, "You heard me, we're going in!"

The flashes were bright, and each time they hit the ship rocked uncontrollably. The third flash followed by the ship's shudder sent the rescue team out of their seats. They then got back up and strapped themselves in. The Pelican ride was going to be rough. But something else assured Fred and the rest of his team that the ride was not going to be necessary. The _Alpha and Omega_'s alarms sounded and red lights started flashing. A voice from the bridge came on over the com channels and loudspeaker, "Attention all personal, assume crash positions. We are heading into the void. I repeat, all personal assume crash positions, we are going into the void." There were a few puzzled looks but nonetheless the crew members obeyed and went left and right to wherever their crash positions were. Even if that meant going to your sleeping quarters and taking the fetal position, though Fred doubted that. Then Major Rick alerted the team,

"Spartans and Sgt. Redman, I suggest you remain here. I'm willing to bet whatever is on the other side will be a new mission from the UNSC."

"Yes sir!" yelled the whole team. Fred looked to his right at Sergeant Redman, who nodded with a look that said, "I'm ready". Fred then turned to his left and looked at Kelly and Linda. But he didn't need to. They were Spartans, they were ready for anything.

The void was getting closer. Commander Hockley braced himself as the lightning strikes became more frequent and the as the cruiser shook more. _Bad idea, _he thought, _bad idea._ But there was no turning back now. The spinning of the black and purple substance was making him nauseous, so much so that he had to look away every now and then. When he looked back blue lightning struck the nose of his ship which sent him tumbling down to the good. When the Commander got back up he puked right on the deck. "Are you going to be ok sir?" a crewmember yelled.

"I'll be fine just make sure we get through in one piece." All of a sudden several bolts of lightning ranging colors spat out of the void from all different sides. The rim, the center everywhere but none struck the ship. Then the void started spinning faster and faster which made the _Alpha and Omega _look like it was accelerating right through it at an alarming rate. Lighting flashed everywhere and the ship shook uncontrollably as the Commander felt himself slide backwards. The Marathon-class cruiser now felt like it was GOING faster. And the speed would increase the longer they were in the void. Lightning flashed more, the ship was shaking tremendously, the engines whined, and all of a sudden the _Alpha and Omega_ was thrown right out of the void and the ship took slowed down to what felt like a near stop. Commander Hockley was thrown forward and his face landed right into the mess he made moments ago. Someone walked over and handed him a towel as Hockley stood back up. He snatched it, wiped his face, and turned to his Navigation officer. "Lieutenant, where is the void?"

"Scanning", the Lieutenant tapped a few buttons, waited a few moments and then his eyes widened. "It's....not there." Commander Hockley's heart sank. _Not there?? How the hell are we supposed to get home?_ He took a deep breath and looked forward. _Must maintain professionalism _he thought. The Commander saw stars and a bright sun directly in front. But to his left was something else. A blue planet with thick, green clouds.

"Lieutenant, what is that?" Commander Hockley asked pointing at the mysterious planet.

"Scanning." Again, a few button presses and a short wait. "From what I'm reading here, that planet, is Earth."


End file.
